>> you are watching cnn breaking news. i'm colleen mcedwards. we received confirmation a short time ago that the republican white house candidate mitt romney is going to reveal his vice presidential candidate. this is going to happen at a major campaign stop on saturday. in the u.s. state of virginia a few hours from now. a little over eight hours from now. we are expecting that announcement to be made after weeks and weeks of speculation. wolf blitzer is with us in d.c. and john king is with us as well. wolf, what are the choices and the possibilities? >> the short -- [ no audio ]

>> i am not hearing wolf. if you can hear me, start again. if we lost wolf, we will go to john. i think we lost wolf. we have been having a little problems with the connection there, but we will get it back. john king, if i can get you to pick up on that, we are resetting here and wanting to tell people that the announcement is just hours away. we don't know who it is, but remind us of the possibilities. >> a little under nine hours from now, the former massachusetts governor will be the republican nominee for president. the convention is a couple of weeks away. we have been waiting who will be his partner and the nominee. we are now told by the campaign that announcement will come tomorrow in norfolk, virginia. that's the beginning of the bus where he is taking through the key swing states. romney needs to carry it this year. he is trying to get enough interest and make a statement about what kind of a partner he wants in the white house and

could be making a statement about which issues he wants to move front and center as we go to the final stretch of the campaign. the economy is "issue #1." who might be picked? we have been told the short list includes paul ryan, a private plane left from boston to wisconsin. a hint or a bluff? we don't know. he say polarizing figure. most americans don't know, but paul ryan has been front and center in the big debates with the cut in federal spending whether you mead to move more quickly. the international viewers watched europe through the debt crisis and the u.s. is having a similar debate. a controversial plan to rewrite the rules of the entitlement program. social security and retirement for seniors and american medicare and the health care program for seniors in the united states. he is a polarizing figure.

many conservatives said please pim him and liberals think they can demonize him and win the election. the former minnesota governor tim pawlenty, the son of a truck driver and grew up in a middle class neighborhood and ridicule bide president obama for being wealthy and out of touch in the middle class. pawlenty can help him in the blue collar communities. i was with him in an irish pub. the anti-romney when it comes to personal style. the third pick, rob portman can't lose the state of ohio. he has to win and rob portman is a house member and a senator who served in the bush administration. how is it the deepest resume of somebody who nobody can question and they have the experience to be president. he comes across as bland and boring. teat party doesn't love him

because he enjoys working with democrats. that is a governing pick and get off on a good track. maybe he can do a point or two in ohio and senator portman is there and the state that romney has to win to win the white house. those are the top three. they will be made in the state of virginia. the virginia governor is on the list early on and he faded. the portions of the past several weeks and you never know what will be a surprise there. the freshman senator from florida and also a young man, but a darling of the tea party. that will be a statement from romney. we don't think he's the choice, but we will see if he get a surprise in the morning that is chris cristy and combustible and from the state of new jersey that. would be a controversial pick. the smoke is around ryan, but we don't have confirmation and these things take twists

sometimes. >> we're try to read the signals and the tea leaves, but we will not know until that announcement is made a few hours from now. wolf blitzer in d.c. for us. no matter who it is, once the announcement is made and out there and it's official, how does it change a campaign? >> one thing it does, once you have a vice presidential running mate, that person is important. as far as fund-raising is concerned, this is a reason why several of the romney folks really wanted someone to be announced as quickly as possible. once that person is the vice presidential running mate of mitt romney, that person can go out and raise money going to fund-raisers and if you are the running mate, you can do better raising money with potential big shots than if you are not. if you are a senator or a congressman or a governor or whatever. when you are the running mate, that helps from the fund-raising perspective and it presumably will generate buzz out there and

i am surprised why the goff nof wants it do it on a saturday morning as the olympics are not completed. there will be an explanation for that. i assume they wanted to wait until the olympics were done and then there would be an opportunity to generate more public attention. he wanted to do it on a saturday. i think president obama nominated joe biden on a saturday as well. you have the weekend coverage and go into the week. it is surprising that they wanted to do it so quickly even while the olympics in london were still continuing. that is their decision and they wanted to do it and they will announce they will do it at 9:00 eastern time and it's interesting as i have been pointing out it will be not only in norfolk, virginia, but in virginia, norfolk is the largest stable facility in the world on the uss wisconsin. it may be coincidence, but paul

ryan is from wisconsin and that could be a signal that it could be paul ryan. who knows. we will see how clever they are. >> we do not know. there will be plenty to talk about on the sunday talk shows in the united states around the world as well. we will take a short break, but keep it here on cnn for all the developments in this breaking story. mom: ready to go to work?

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ every mom needs a little helper. that's why i got a subaru. announcer: love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. >> after weeks and weeks of speculation, they have or nine

hours from now on the east coast of the united states. we have our wolf blitzer -- we have this in the campaign. >> the most important decision a presidential candidate can make because the first he selects, the actual presidential nominee would become president if something were to happen to the president of the united states. it sends a signal that this is someone that the candidate believes would be qualified and would take charge to be the commander in chief and leave the united states in that difficult time. it's arguably the most important decision that mitt romney will have to make and they will spend to the supporters what he is all about and what he sees as far as the future of the united states is concerned. someone he trusts and can work with and believes can take charge.

it will be studied closely and get a better understanding of where mitt romney is after he knows who he selects. we don't yet know and we know there is a short list we have been talking about that, but i think it's the most important decision an american presidential candidate can make. four years ago when barack obama selected joe biden as a running mate, the foreign relations committee and the senate judiciary committee, that sends a message about what then candidate obama was all about. the same as john mccain when he selectioned then governor of alaska sarah palin. that sent a message as well. this will send a powerful message to the american voters and better explain and give a deeper understanding of who mitt romney is. >> we know as well that phone calls apparently went out to

those on the short list being told thank you for participating and presumably those on mitt romney's short list know what we do not know at this point. ha is who is it going to be. one of the potentials is paul ryan who we have talked a fair good bit about in our coverage and john king spent time with recently to get an idea of what this man is. john, a numbers guy, right? in a campaign where the economy matters a lot. >> the next generation of the republican party and has been prominent since they captured the house. the house budget chairman and if he is the vice presidential pick, he will debate joe biden and over the past couple of years, he is debating not just president obama, but the democratic party. romney is a cautious guy and many conservatives need to shake-up the campaign and make it gold and about ideas.

>> we want to give you that. for paul ryan debating joe biden may feel like a demotion. >> why not freeze spending now and would you support a line item veto and help get a vote on it in the house. >> let me respond to the two specific questions, but i want to push back a little bit on the underlying premises about us increasing spending by 84%. >> the discretionary spending and the bill congress signs into law that has increased 84%. >> we will have a longer debate on the budget numbers then, all right? >> ryan is the gop numbers guy. the chairman who is not afraid to say in his view the only way back to fiscal sanity is to shrink government and fundamentally change medicare. >> if you don't address the issues now, they will steam roll us as a country. the issue is the more you delay fixing these problems, the

uglier the solutions will have to be. >> in short, he is a lightning rod and if he shares the ticket, he will reshape the 2012 race. >> for would be a bold, but a risky choice. hard for me to see mitt romney who played it safe making that gamble. >> there upsides that energize the base sometimes suspicious of romney. he is an energetic campaigner and at just 42, he would add youthful vigor to the ticket. ryan would respect romney in wisconsin and across the midwest. >> he gets that sort of blue collar conservatism that is the heart of the republican party. >> tapping ryan is a gamble because of the budget that bears his name. up until now, romney has done everything to make this campaign a referendum on the incumbent. >> the president's policy are not creating jobs. >> add ryan and there is no

escaping this. >> ryan planned to end medicare as we about it. >> ryan has never run statewide and has no foreign policy experience. some will question whether they are ready to be commander in chief. >> one of the stars over the next 10 to 20 years, whether he is ready at this moment only a campaign trail can tell. he will get a real beating. >> ryan said family history makes him a fitness fanatic, leading colleagues in gruelling workouts. >> my dad diedate 55 and my grandfather at 57. i had an incentive to stay healthy . >> an avid hunter as green learned when he sent an e-mail. >> i got this response saying i am sitting in a deer state. it's hunting season. leave me alone. >> he is a self-described nerd,

but don't under estimate his ambition. if he had his bruthers, he would rather debate the president. >> i love the idea of barack obama and love that we have elected an african-american man as a president. that is say cool thing. i don't like the ideas coming from barack obama. >> governor mitt romney, hopefully the next president of the united states of america. >> romney who decides whether to place a risky bet on paul ryan. cnn, washington. >> as we await the nominee, we can say this. we knew the short list is ryan and paw lenty and portman. we are told that portman is planning to take a fund-raising bike ride and pawlenty told other reporters that he is in new hampshire and had a busy

schedule on behalf of the romney campaign and he plans to keeping that schedule. unless there is a surprise not on the short list we knew of, all the indications are that paul ryan will be on the uss wisconsin. it could be a surprise and further smoke, often there is fire. >> often there is fire and often a surprise as well. we shall see. we are about 8 1/2 hours away from knowing the answer. who will be the vice presidential candidate for the candidate mitt romney in the campaign. our thanks to john king and to gloria borger who had been with us through this. we will take a short break right here in this bricking news, but be right back with wolf blitzer and much more coming up. keep it here on cnn. [ thunk ] sweet!

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>> a short list of candidates for the vice presidential running mate for mitt romney apparently received phone calls informing them at least that they are perhaps not the choice, but we don't have an official announcement right now. we have chris welsh on the line, cnn producer who i understand has new information for us. what have you got? >> colleen, governor tim pawlenty who has been rumored to be on the short list, governor romney's short list for the vice presidential pick, she at his hotel and told me he is keeping his schedule in new hampshire tomorrow. he had a full dave events starting at 10:00 a.m. he is keeping that and he is not

going to be in virginia. he also told me that he did not get a phone call tonight from governor romney. now, he said he know who is the pick is, but he would not say whether it was a definitive no for governor pawlenty. >> he is keeping his schedule, i would imagine a lot of the people on the short list here will try to at least go on as if nothing strange is going on. >> that's correct. he is going to at least at this point keep the illusion going and keep people guessing. >> to what extent is this expected to change the race? what are the people you are talking to and saying how big of an announcement this is about 8 1/2 hours from now? >> traditionally the vice presidential picks are as you know covered extensively by the media and it's something the public follows quite a bit the

day that john mccain takes his running mate to sarah palin, that shocked a number of people. that element of surprise and something unsuspected could happen and change the race all together. >> we want to bring wolf blitzner in d.c. for people around the world and the united states who may not be following this campaign blow by blow, this has been a pretty tight campaign, right? i understand the republican mitt romney fines himself a little bit behind in the race right now. what changed? >> the last few days had three polls that came out. registered voters across the united states have shown that president obama has a significant lead in the polls over mitt romney despite the bad econom economic data in the united states. the unemployment and all of the sense that the country economically is moving in the

wrong direction as opposed to the right direction. despite all the bad economic indicators, all three of the polls, not only the cnn and the fox poll have shown that president obama is ahead nationally by 5 five to nine points over mitt romney. those are significant numbers. if you dig deeper into the polls and ask why is the period ahead if the country thinks they are not moving in the right direction? the answer is favorability. most americans have a higher favorability opinion of the president than of mitt romney. over the past month or so, mitt romney's favorability, the positive numbers have gone down. that would indicate why the president is ahead nationally. it's important that the national numbers, you have to look at the states and the key battle grounds. it's very, very close.

>> wolf blitzer and chris welsh, cnn political producer bringing us the latest there. once again, to recap if you are just joining us, mitt romney's campaign, the candidate has announced that it is set to announce the vice presidential canned datd for mitt romney at a big campaign event saturday morning on the east coast of the united states. paul ryan, congressman from wisconsin, one of the possible contenders. rob portman of ohio and senator marco rubio of florida. the former governor of minnesota also there. we are going to take a short break here in our breaking news coverage, but back in just a moment with much more. keep it here on cnn. those surprising little things she does still make you take notice. there are a million reasons why. but your erectile dysfunction that could be a question of blood flow.

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at cnn center, welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. we are in breaking news coverage because we are hours away from a significant development in the u.s. presidential campaign. the republican white house candidate mitt romney is getting set to announce his vice presidential candidate. who is it going to be? we will find out about eight or nine hours from now in an announcement made in the state of virginia in norfolk where our jim acosta is right now. tell us more about the event and what we can expect to see and hear there. >> one of the things that popped up this afternoon that i think was a big clue that mitt romney was going to be doing something big on this trip is the entourage he had with him. he normally doesn't travel with the number of advisers he is traveling

beth myers, who is the head of his vice presidential search, she is on this trip. she does not normally travel with him. the fact that she showed up on this bus tour trip was a pretty big indication that something was going on. and stu stevens and eric were also top advisers to the gop contender. that is also a sign that they had something, a big plan for this trip. i will tell you that we just don't know a whole lot right now in terms of what is going to happen at this event. but as wolf and john king and others have been mentioning, the fact that they're staging this event on the uss wisconsin i think is a pretty big sign that perhaps this is heading in paul ryan's direction. but keep in mind mitt romney has said, and he said this earlier this week that he doesn't mind misdirecting the media from time to time, and that is part of the campaign. and so this could be a misdirection. who knows. but obviously the fact that they're hosting this on the uss

wisconsin i think is a pretty big sign. as john and wolf and others have been saying throughout your coverage, this is a bold pick for mitt romney. up until a week ago the conventional wisdom in washington was he was going to pick somebody like a rob portman or a tim pawlenty, the safe choices in the vice presidential top tier. but as these polls were coming out late in the week, you know, there was also a sense, especially within conservatives, among conservatives that mitt romney needed to make a bold pick. and paul ryan would certainly be a bold pick. keep in mind during campaign mitt romney basically adopted much of what paul ryan is proposing from a budget standpoint in washington. paul ryan is talking about making fairly dramatic changes to the medicare program. mitt romney has essentially adopted that proposal for medicare. and so this would basically present a ticket to the american

people of two men, two politicians who are basically on the same page when it comes to that issue. democrats are already, you know, talking -- talking this up on twitter. progressive activists and so forth are talking this up on twitter as a very big contrast for the coming general election campaign. if they are going -- these two candidates are going to be talking about a major social welfare change, major changes to the safety net in this country, then there will be a big contrast in this upcoming campaign. >> jim acosta for us in norfolk. and jim, as jim mentioned, we don't know if it's going to be congressman paul ryan right now. we do not know that. what we do know is the speculation about this is going to go on for hours. it's been a lot of hype about this announcement in the weeks past as well. the romney campaign really doing a lot, wolf, to keep the hype alive in terms of who the vp nominee is going to be.

they even put out a smartphone app where you can follow this along. it certainly doesn't hurt the campaign to keep the hype alive and keep the excitement alive going about this, right? wolf, are you there? have we got wolf blitzer in d.c.? >> can you hear me? >> yeah, we've got you, wolf. it certainly doesn't hurt to keep the hype alive from the romney campaign's perspective? >> he obviously wants attention. i'm a little surprised they're doing it on a saturday morning, early on a saturday morning, even as the olympics have not yet been completed in london. but that's their decision. when you see the two of them together, mitt romney and paul ryan, they look like a good team. mitt romney is what, 64, 65 years old, whatever he is. but paul ryan is 41 years old. >> 42. >> yeah, 42 years old. so obviously age difference. but paul ryan has been in washington for a long time. he was a young aide in 22, 23, 24 years old. and he has been a congressman. he rose in the ranks. he is now the chairman of the house budget committee. he is highly respected,

especially by conservatives. and he is very, very sharp, very smart. he doesn't have a whole lot of foreign policy experience, but he does have a lot of domestic economic experience. and the economy and jobs certainly issue number one in this presidential contest. so when we see the two of them together, you can imagine the two of them together up on the stage at the republican convention in tampa, florida, at the end of this month. how will they be together, their families? both have wonderful families, and the image will be very, very positive when you see the two of them together, if in fact paul ryan is the vice presidential running mate. all signs are pointing to that. right now we don't have official confirmation. we'll hear what mitt romney has to say in the morning. but as a lot of people have been pointing out, the announcement is going to be made in norfolk, virginia, aboard the uss wisconsin. wisconsin being paul ryan's home state. so that is an intriguing hint,

if you will. >> it's either an intriguing hint, or it's just too perfect to be true, right? and as you're talking there, wolf -- >> if in fact, if in fact it's more than just a hint, if in fact it is paul ryan and the announcement will be made aboard the uss wisconsin, the arrangements for this bus trip have been in the works for days now. >> yeah. >> so it looks -- it would appear that ryan is in fact mitt romney's choice, it look like he made up his mind several days ago. >> yeah, some time ago. >> they've obviously worked it out. it's obviously something mitt romney has thought about, his wife ann romney, those are the two principles. and they worked very closely with a small team of people who have vetted him. and this vetting process, colleen, and i've spoken to a lot of candidates who have been vetted for vice presidential running mates over the years, republicans and democrats. it's really intense. they go through the toughest questions, financial backgrounds. they ask the most personal questions. is there anything that could

embarrass the republican presidential candidate, any sexual issues out there, anything along those lines. they really go in depth. and, you know, if it is in fact paul ryan, he has gone through that vetting process, and presumably there is nothing that could embarrass the republican ticket if in fact he emerges over the next 8 days as the vice presidential running mate. >> we are certainly getting a better sense of who he is as we talk here, wolf, and as we talk, we're seeing images of paul ryan, oftentimes with mitt romney, oftentimes on his own, getting a sense of what he looks like. he is becoming a familiar face. i've got to ask you this, though. how closely are americans watching this campaign? because some analysts say it's been a bit of a sleeper. what are the chances that this could all be a great big yawn? >> well, i think that it will get even more exciting. look, i'm a political news junky, so i love this kind of stuff. and a lot of the folks who watch

cnn and watch the other cable news channels, they love this kind of stuff too. are most americans, you know, really all that enamored right now who their vice presidential running mate is going to be? probably not. i do think when you look at the big picture, colleen, my own gut tells me about 45% of the voters out there are going to vote for president obama. about 45% are definitely going to vote for mitt romney. so there is maybe a 10% margin out there of people who are still open, undecided, or could still switch their votes. and it's those people, those 8 or 10% where all of these hundreds of millions of dollars in advertisements are about to be directed. and they're not going to be directed at states where we know the outcome like new york state's obviously go for the democratic candidate. california for the democratic candidate. texas will go for the republican candidate. but the fourth largest state, florida, for example, that's up in the air. and so they're going to spend a ton of money going for that 8 or

9 or 10% undecided or still flexible voter who might still be able to switch his or her votes in a state like florida or virginia or ohio or wisconsin, some of these other battleground states, colorado. is an important battleground state, iowa is an important battleground state. maybe eight or ten states where this elect is going to take place, because the other states by and large, 40 of these states at least, we know where they're going to be. it's these eight or ten battleground states that will determine in the electoral college system that we have here in the united states who the president will be. >> indeed. wolf blitzer in d.c. jim acosta awaiting this announcement in norfolk, virginia. i'm colleen mcedwards at cnn center. we are less than nine hours away now from knowing who the vice presidential nominee will be for the republican white house candidate mitt romney. we're going to take a short break here on cnn. we'll be back with much more in just a moment.

welcome back to cnn's breaking news coverage of a major turn, or what is about to be a major turn in the u.s. presidential campaign. welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm colleen mcedwards. bringing you right up to date, the republican nominee mitt romney is hours away from saying who his vice presidential candidate will be. it's an important moment in a u.s. presidential campaign. it may change the tone of the debate. it will say a lot about who mitt romney is, what he stands for, and how the voters are going to react to this choice. there is a short, short list. and we have been talking with our wolf blitzer and our jim acosta about congressman paul ryan, who some are saying is certainly one of the choices, some are even saying a likely

choice. some are also saying potentially a risky choice. jim acosta, tell us a little bit more about congressman paul ryan and what the upside and the downside may be here. >> well, colleen, as most of our viewers know, or perhaps they should know, paul ryan is not only a congressman from wisconsin, he is the chairman of the house budget committee. and he has laid out some pretty dramatic proposals for getting the budget under control in this country. it's something that members on both side of the aisle would like to see get done, but there are big disagreements about how to do it. and what paul ryan has talked about is really changing sort of the social safety net that has been in place in this country for a long period of time. so for example with the medicare program, one thing that paul ryan has talked about is something called a premium support plan for medicare. instead of just a fee for service program where seniors get medicare by virtue of the

fact that they turned a certain age and they start receiving medicare benefits, what they have talked about with the ryan plan is something along the lines of a premium support plan or a voucher system as some democrats have called it where seniors will get checks in the future and they'll be able to buy into the medicare program. mitt romney has sort of altered that somewhat. he has adapted that but altered it that people would be able to stay in the current medicare program or choose sort of the ryan approach, which is to buy into the insurance market through these premium support payments. and so this would be an interesting contrast i think in the upcoming campaign. it's something that a lot of fiscal conservatives have been clamoring for in recent days. they've been saying that romney needs to go bold. he needs to go with a paul ryan type, because it presents a stark contrast to the american people. setting the policy part of this to the side for a moment, colleen, keep in mind paul ryan,

he really stuck his neck out during the primary process and got behind mitt romney during a pretty critical time in this campaign. mitt romney was having a tough time fighting off rick santorum as the primaries were heading up into the industrial midwest. and paul ryan went out on a limb and supported mitt romney going into wisconsin when there was some talk that rick santorum could have won that state and beaten mitt romney in that state. and paul ryan, he campaigned across the state of wisconsin with mitt romney, and it helped mitt romney win that state. and i think at that point there was a bond that was forged between these two men at that stage in this race. and it's really carried forward since then. i think that was maybe the beginning point of this relationship. >> jim, just stand by. i'm going to go really quickly down this list. we don't know, but here is a partial list. senator marco rubio of the very important state of florida. senator rob portman of the very

important industrial state of ohio. former governor tim pawlenty of minnesota. and we can report now that signs are pointing away from those candidates. we do not have confirmation that it is paul ryan. but signs are certainly pointing in that direction, as we have been reporting. and just recently our john king spent a little bit of time with paul ryan to figure out who this person is, what kind of candidate he might make, and he is, as john king reports, a numbers guy in a campaign that is all about the economy. >> we want to give you that scalpel. >> reporter: for paul ryan, debating joe biden might feel like a question. >> my question is why not start spending freezing now and would you support a line-item veto if it is in the house? >> let me respond to the two specific questions, but i want to push back a little bit on the understood lying premise, about

us increasing spending by 84%. >> the discretionary spending, the bills that congress signs, that you sign into law, that has increased 84%. >> we'll have a -- we'll have a longer debate on the budget numbers there, all right? >> reporter: ryan is the gop's numbers guy. the house budget committee chairman who isn't afraid to say in his view the only way back to fiscal sanity is to dramatically shrink government and fundamentally change medicare. >> if you don't address these issues now, they're going to steamroll us as a country. and the issue is the more you delay fixing these problems, the much uglier the solutions are going to have to be. >> reporter: in short, he is a lightning rod. and if mitt romney taps ryan to share the ticket, he will dramatically reshape the 2012 race. >> well, it would be a bold choice. it would be a risky choice. it's hard for me to see mitt romney, who has played it safe all the way through this campaign making that kind of gamble. >> reporter: there are upsides. it would energize a gop base sometimes suspicious of romney. ryan is an energetic debater and

campaigner. and at just 42, he would add youthful visioner to the ticket. close friends like mark green say ryan would help romney in wisconsin and across the midwest. >> i think he does get wisconsin. but i think more importantly, he gets that sort of blue collar conservatism that i think is the heart of the republican party. >> reporter: but tapping ryan is a big gambel because of the house gop budget that bears his name. up until now, romney has done everything to make this campaign a referendum on the incumbent. >> the president's policies are not creating jobs. >> reporter: add ryan to the ticket and there is no escaping this. >> ryan plan to end medicare as we know it must be taken off the table. >> reporter: other potential downsides, ryan has never run statewide. he has no foreign policy experience. and some will question whether a 42-year-old house member is ready to be commander in chief. >> one of the stars of the republican future over the next 10 to 20 years. whether he is ready at this moment, only the campaign trail

can tell. and he's going to get --ly tell you, he's going to take a real beating. >> reporter: ryan says family history makes him a fitness fanatic, leading house colleagues in grueling cross training techniques. >> my dad had a heart attack at 55, my grandfather at 57. so i've always had this incentive to stay healthy. >> reporter: and an avid hunter as green learned one day from an e-mail post from tanzania. >> i got this response i'm sitting in a deer stand. it's hunting season. leave me alone. >> reporter: he is a self-described nerd, but don't underestimate ryan's ambition or his competitive streak. it's clear if he had his drothers, he'd rather debate the president. >> i love the idea of barack obama. i love the fact that we have elected an african-american man as president. i think that's a really cool thing. i just don't like the ideas coming from barack obama. >> reporter: but it is romney who will share the biggest fall debate stage. >> governor mitt romney, hopefully the next president of

the united states of america. >> reporter: and romney who decides whether to place a risky bet on paul ryan. john king, cnn, washington. >> and colleen, cnn has told tonight, have i one source, a prominent republican who says he has direct knowledge of romney's pick, that it will indeed be paul ryan as announced as vice presidential running mate tomorrow morning in virginia. our gloria borger has a source that is suggesting that as well and peter hanby. so when the announcement comes tomorrow, it will be the man you see on the screen. 42 years old, republican congressman from wisconsin. as we discussed earlier tonight, this would be counter to governor romney's dna. he is known as a safe, cautious, methodical guy. this is a bit of a risky pick, but it's also a bold pick. it will make conservatives happy, and it will redefine the tone and tenner of the debate of the campaign, no question, no question the economy is number

one in the american election. but by picking paul ryan, governor romney is guaranteeing that the democrats will attack the republican ticket as a ticket that wants to, a, cut taxes on the rich, and they will say now devastate the social safety net programs for elderly americans. the republicans say that's not true that will be the debate in the 87 days ahead. >> you bet. sources telling our john king that mitt romney's running mate will indeed be congressman paul ryan of wisconsin. john, once this announcement happens, i'm losing track of time here. but probably less than eight hours from now, what happens in the campaign? i mean practically speaking, how does paul ryan, how does his life change? what happens to the two of them? do they start fanning out together? how does the campaign unfold from there? >> well, paul ryan by noontime tomorrow will have secret service protection. that's about one of the changes

about to happen in his life and so will his family. paul ryan was supposed to gone ovacation in colorado beginning tomorrow. our sources are telling us instead we will see him on the deck of the uss wisconsin in norfolk, virginia. there is a bus tour planned over the next several days that goes through the states of virginia, north carolina, florida, and ohio. those are four key battleground states, all carried by president obama four years ago, all essential to the republican electoral college now. so tradition is the candidates go out together for a few days. we don't know for certain paul ryan will do the entire bus tour, but that is our expectation. then they tend to separate. and that's what you get. double for your money. you spread them both out, you can hit two battleground states or two battleground cities at a time. you can also have two guys raising money. and look for ann romney and paul ryan's wife as well to be part of this campaign. you see the pictures right here. it looks like they are comfortable together, they like each other. they spent a little bit of time together on the campaign trail in 2008.

again, this is a bold choice, because the democrats say there is so much to attack what paul ryan has done over the years. it's essentially a choice by mitt romney to say sure, let's have a big debate about the big choices facing the american economy and american spending. conservatives are thrilled by that the interesting part, colleen so, are democrats. >> john, you just mentioned how a candidate's life changes when an announcement like this has been made and there is no clear example of that than the shot i believe we're about to show you right now, which is a live shot of congressman paul ryan's house. i'm just told we don't have those pictures. but you can bet everybody is scrambling to get that shot of his house, start getting the shots that everyone is going to want to have to build the story of this campaign from this moment forward. again, just to remind our viewers and to recap, sources are telling cnn, multiple sources are telling us that mitt romney's candidate for vice

president is going to be paul ryan. look, we don't know for sure until tomorrow morning when it's or this morning, saturday morning when it's all announced in the united states. but sources are telling me this is the guy right here. paul ryan, congressman, also chair of the house budget committee. cnn's chief political analyst, gloria borger is on the line with us as well. gloria, i understand your sources are telling you the same thing, right? >> right. my sources sure are not steering me away from paul ryan, i can tell you that. and i think there are some things to keep in mind about paul ryan, which is that he is a conservative who has done the blueprint for the budget, which really does change the way medicare operates. essentially turns medicare into a voucher system. it is something the democrats have used. they've made paul ryan the poster child for people who want to take away your medicare. although his plan would only affect people who are currently

over the age -- would not affect people who are currently over the age of 55. he is a little bit unpredictable, you know. he voted for the auto bailout. he voted for the t.a.r.p. bailout. so he is somebody who comes from a blue collar town in janesville, wisconsin. and he has been able to win in a district that is pretty split. he comes from working class roots himself. very different from mitt romney that way. and also comes from a different generation of politicians. but he is a creature of washington. he has been working here for more than 20 years. but he is somebody who devoted himself nonstop to try to figure out a way to cut federal spending. >> we've got that life shot, gloria. just hang on here. i mentioned earlier how we were talk about how a person's life changes in a situation like

this. we do have the live shot now of congressman paul ryan's house there it is. there is someone standing on his doorstep. i don't know who that is. but i suspect it might be a reporter or a producer trying to perhaps get a comment there on what sources are telling cnn. this is the home of the person who will be the vice presidential running mate on the republican side, congressman paul ryan. wolf blitzer is with us in d.c. paul ryan 20 years in washington, wolf. 42 years old. we've heard a couple of analysts already. talk about his great credentials, but also question is he ready for this. >> well, he is obviously very, very intelligent. he knows the economy. he knows the budget. he is the chairman of the budget committee. he does bring some controversy. the republican base, the conservative base will love him there is no doubt about that in my mind. the democrats are already at least if you're looking at some of the social media comments that we're getting, they're beginning to salivate a little

bit because they think this is going to bring some of the issues to the front, including the entitlement issues like social security and medicare. very popular issue, especially with seniors. people approaching those ages. and they're going to suggest that this guy wants to gut it, wants to change it, wants to end medicare, for example, the way we know it. and they will go out of their way to make those points. and i'm looking at some of these reactions from some of the democrats. bill burton who runs a major pro-obama superpac for example, former white house press secretary for president obama. he tweeted a little while ago saying this will in fact change the race as far as the republicans are concerned, but not necessarily the way they would like to see this race changed. in other words, they're going to go after him, and they're going to bring a lot of these issues to the floor, the issues that paul ryan has boldly put forward as chairman of the budget committee, which a lot of conservatives like very much, but there is not necessarily. and so the democrats are going to use this and go after him

big-time. and they're going to obviously try to score points this with this. this will be an exciting new chapter. i'm looking forward to this. it will really allow issue number one to come to the floor. there are two very different economic policy plans that these two guys have, the president of the united states, president obama and mitt romney the republican candidate. and now this will really crystallize it. i'm also looking forward to that debate that will take place in october between paul ryan and joe biden, the vice president. there will be one vice presidential debate in october. there will be three presidential debates in october. obviously i'm looking forward to the presidential debates as well. but i think biden versus ryan, that will be a strong debate. they're both very intelligent. they're both very lively. they're not shy at all. it will be good for the american public to see these two guys debate these issues because it will explain the fundamental differences on taxes, on entitlement spending, on cuts in

spending, if you will. it will really hone in on where these two parties stand. and i think it will be a good substantive debate. >> maybe more americans tune in from this point, right? >> i think so. i think people will get energized. a lot of people love paul ryan. a lot of people don't love paul ryan. a lot of people probably don't know him that well. political news junkies know who he is. inside the beltway certainly know who he is. probably never heard of him. >> not so much the rest of us, although wolf we're getting a sense of who he is now. we're seeing wall to wall pictures of him. that's going to continue. we've even seen a shot of the outside of his house. so certainly we're getting to know congressman paul ryan all around the world right now. again, to recap here on cnn, you're watching our breaking news coverage. sources, multiple sources telling cnn that congressman paul ryan is going to be announced as the vice presidential running mate for the republican candidate mitt

romney. that announcement just hours away. we're taking a break, but we're coming right back with much more right here on cnn. [ male announcer ] this is the at&t network. in here, every powerful collaboration is backed by an equally powerful and secure cloud. that cloud is in the network, so it can deliver all the power of the network itself. bringing people together to develop the best ideas -- and providing the apps and computing power to make new ideas real. it's the cloud from at&t. with new ways to work together, business works better. ♪ witwould you mind if to bether, i go ahead of you?omer.. instead we had someone go ahead of him and win fifty thousand dollars. congratulations you are our one millionth customer. people don't like to miss out on money that should have been theirs. that's why at ally we have the raise your rate 2-year cd.

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coverage. sources, multiple sources are telling cnn that the ticket is fixed on the republican side. just hours from now, sources say the republican candidate mitt romney is going to announce that congressman paul ryan will be on the ticket as vice president. a major development in the u.s. presidential campaign. gloria, tell us what your sources are saying. gloria borger is with us, cnn's chief political analyst. >> both john king and have i been talking to sources as well as peter hanby. none of our sources are steering us away from paul ryan. some of us are steering us towards paul ryan. in fact a few of them are. i think what this shows us, a paul ryan pick is a calculation that mitt romney is going to a different generation, and that he intends to make the fiscal future of the country and the budget issue a real centerpiece of the campaign. i think what is interesting to

me, you were talking to john a few minutes ago about joe biden and how joe biden would have a debate with paul ryan. it's interesting because both of these men, biden and ryan came to congress at very young ages. i mean ryan ran for congress first when he was the age of 27 in 1988. and he -- 1998, and he asked his mentors jack kemp and bill bennett whether it would pass the laugh test. and they said yeah, it kind of would. but he remained the kid from janesville who goes home there every weekend. he's got a young family there. in much the same way that joe biden was when he first ran for congress. he was a very young man. and then some of his family was killed in a tragic crash. but they were both the sort of stars of their parties at that -- when they came to congress. is ryan